Pork supply good until Q1 2021

MANILA, Philippines — The country has sufficient supply of pork the products until early next year despite the continued African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak.

The deadly hog disease remains an issue in the Philippines with 406,899 pigs already killed since the outbreak started in August 2019. ASF is now present in 11 regions, 34 provinces, 392 municipalities and 2,061 barangays in the country.

Since the disease has been mainly concentrated in Luzon, the Department of Agriculture has been transporting hogs from Visayas and Mindanao to boost supply in the northern part of the country.

The DA-National Livestock Program said more than 213,500 hogs had been shipped to Metro Manila and nearby provinces since May to augment supply.

Bulk of the hogs or about 42 percent comes from Soccsksargen followed by Western Visayas at 25 percent.

“Due to the ASF, the country’s pork inventory suffered at an alarming level, and the move to ship hogs from Visayas and Mindanao was a pre-emptive measure to arrest the worsening pork supply and prices in Metro Manila,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

Latest market monitoring showed that pork belly (liempo) is now being sold at a high of P330 per kilogram when its suggested retail price is only P290.

Pork ham (kasim), on the other hand, has a prevailing price of P300 a kilo but its  SRP is P260.

Additional supply of pork during the holidays and onto next year is expected as hog producers in General Santos City gear up to increase shipments to Metro Manila and other major markets in Luzon.

Hog raisers in GenSan have been ramping up operations to meet the target shipment of 15,000 to 20,000 heads monthly.

Apart from the live hogs, Agriculture undersecretary William Medrano said frozen pork inventory is more than enough at 32,724 metric tons as of the first week of December.

There is also a surplus supply of poultry meat with an inventory of 43,345 MT of frozen dressed chicken, up 46 percent from year ago levels.

Demand for poultry has been weak since March as hotels, restaurants and other institutions are still adjusting to the new normal following months of lockdown.